What can I learn from the Tax Record?

Lists land in other GA counties (the tax payer is listed in his/her county of
residence; immediately following is a list of other acreage owned by
this person in other counties and the tax amount for each).

This, of
course, is extremely helpful when you are trying to determine if two men
of the same name in different counties are the same person or not.

There may be notes such as "John Smith paying poll
tax 'as the parent of William Smith.'" If this is a poor Southern
family who owned no land or slaves (and thus left no wills or deeds), this may be the only record of them.

Even if families did own land, they didn't always feel compelled to record
the deeds. The tax records reveal the extent of these land
holdings--and changes on a yearly basis.

1922 Tax Record

Here's another great tip from Wm Mills.
William A. Mills" Last week, I was down in Dooly Co., GA, and saw the 1922 Tax Digest.
I've been thru many dozens of Tax Digests over the years, so I just took
a quick look thru that one. Guess what? On the first 5 or 6 pages,
there was an *extensive* amount of info pertaining to Confederate
Veterans. The primary reason for logging this info, was to validate
their claim for tax exempt status.

The Confederate Veteran info was very detailed, and listed the name of
soldier, the unit he served with, the dates of enlistment and discharge,
rank, etc. I haven't seen any Tax Digests for Houston Co., GA past the
1870s, but they may be stored away somewhere. If so, I haven't found
them yet :-)

When you go to the various Georgia courthouses in pursuit of your elusive
ancestors, make sure to check some of the Tax Digests of the era around
1920. You just may find out some good info about your Confederate
Veteran ancestor!

Loose Records

The "loose records" contain the real data. The
recorded records are full of errors in initial transcription, often
abbreviated, and omit essential data. An example: The recorded estate records
of my gggrandfather consist of four pages in a bound book. The loose records
of the same estate consist of fifty-seven pages.

Boundaries of Militia Districts

"Two interesting facets derived from the detailed analysis of the tax returns
for the period 1785-1805 were: (a) the location of a typical boundary, and
(b) the naming of watercourses. In 1785, the large districts were thinly
populated and most of the settlers lived along the rivers and large creeks.
Boundaries of these large districts included areas from both sides of a river
or major creek. Since roads were only trails, transportation included boats to
cross these natural barriers, and it was easier to form a militia company from
both sides of a stream than to group those from greater distances on the same
side of a stream. As the population increased and the lands between the rivers
and creeks became settled, roads were laid out and built. The boundaries were
then shifted to the natural barriers provided by the streams; sometimes
concurrently with a division of one district into two, or two districts into
three." [Incidently, Militia Districts and Taxing Districts were one and the
same by law.]

"The other facet of the analysis of returns for the
period, the naming of the watercourses, can be a difficult hurdle to cross in
researching land ownership. An early tax return (and survey and grant) may
have located the land on the waters of a major creek or river, but later
returns (and deeds) may have located the land on a minor creek or tributary of
the major waterway without naming the major waterway. As more land was
surveyed and granted for the expanding population, minor streams were named,
providing a more specific location. Land having been surveyed was subject to
taxation, whether or not it had been granted."

Changes in the reported watercourse should be of no great concern. You will
find instances where waters of two streams will be reported one year, one of
the two the next year, and the other another year. I have always assumed that
the land was located between the creeks, when two creeks were named. A large
tract of land was usually drained by two or more creeks, even though only one
was reported on the return. If we had the individual's written returns, or if
we had heard the owner making his verbal return, we would know whether the
Receiver made an arbitrary decision to record only one or the other, or was
lazy and used dittos. &nbsp &nbsp Frank Parker Hudson

References

Two hard cover volumes, with Library quality binding, on 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch archival grade (acid free) paper. It
includes a 204 page Index to Returns of Persons Subject To Taxation, Adjoining Landowners and Original Grantees
(Or For Whom the Land Was Surveyed)

It lists all extant tax records (over 47,000)including some which had not been microfilmed before research on this book
started. Mr. Hudson has listed all data of genealogical significance found in the records.

Over forty-five per cent of all free souls living in the State of Georgia were residents of Wilkes County in 1790.

The area of Wilkes Co. in
1785 [quoting again here] included the area now in the counties of
Wilkes, Lincoln, and Elbert; most of Oglethorpe, Madison, Taliaferro and
Warren; half of Hart; and part of Clarke, Glascock, Greene, Hancock, and
McDuffie Counties. Old Wilkes Co. was over 80 miles from north to south
and 50 miles from east to west at its longest and widest points.